Reconstructing and Deconstructing Engineering Education: Tools to Interpret Engineering Philosophies

摘要

With the recent deluge of attempts at forming a more coherent and aligned philosophy of engineering education, a demand for an application of traditional continental methods should be apparent. Even the definition of the field itself is available for scrutiny, and within that framework, a number of interesting paradigms can be discussed. This paper intends to apply approaches from Heidegger's works on metaphysics compared to modern engineering education philosophies. These approaches include interpretations of commonly used words, the intentionality of various constructs within the field, and to whom these constructs affect. The main core of this discussion on Heidegger revolves around the lesser-expanded constructs of false thinking and Bodenstandigkeit or autochthony - sometimes called groundedness. These two constructs can be readily applied to the enterprise of engineering education to better situate the engineer in the world and to discuss his place relative to his role in society, his job, his colleagues, and related institutions. While there are many tools to evaluate engineering thinking and even emergent ones to evaluate divergent and creative thought, tools to evaluate the lack of thinking or thoughtlessness are not pervasive. Heidegger's philosophy provides reflections to better understand false thinking, grounded thought, and potentially a construct for delimiting thought or thoughtlessness - three constructs from which our modern technological literature could benefit. Lastly, of key importance to the future of the field of philosophy of engineering education is its self-expression, not to be confused with the often-used term agency. In one sense, engineering education can be expressed from the vantage point of engineers and educators and their respective communities, and the community efforts must be addressed to fully understand the definition of engineering education. It should be understood that the lens used to study both engineering and education in terms of a philosophy such as Heidegger's is fundamentally a lens of abstraction focused on the self, thus can be of key importance to our community. After discussing several components of Heidegger's philosophy, his constructs are tied to recent publications.